Atlanta II: Bowyer - Saturday media visit

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS IMPALA SS met with media and discussed
double duty with NSCS and NNS this weekend, Shane Wilson named as crew
chief for '09, starting on a clean sheet of paper next year, and
more.
ON QUALIFYING AND PRACTICE...

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 07 JACK DANIELS IMPALA SS met with media and discussed
double duty with NSCS and NNS this weekend, Shane Wilson named as crew
chief for '09, starting on a clean sheet of paper next year, and
more.

ON QUALIFYING AND PRACTICE BEING RAINED OUT FRIDAY, AND RUNNING BOTH THE
CUP AND NATIONWIDE RACE IN MEMPHIS
"I'm just glad the weather is cooperating enough that we can
at least get practice in today here, and that it's not raining
there (Memphis) so we can get the race in. It'll be a fun day. I
talked to the guys last night and it sounded like the car was decent over
there. I'm just looking forward to the challenge, you know.
It's a lot of fun to be able to just show up over there.
You've got what you've got and just do the best with it. So
we'll see how it all turns out."

ON THE ANNOUNCED PLAN THAT SHANE WILSON WILL BE HIS CREW CHIEF IN 2009.
"He's the best man for the job. He's been around RCR
for quite some time. He's going to fit in well right off the bat.
That's something that's important. Everybody knows
we've got to start off at Daytona right out of the box good to be
in contention for this Chase. I think he's the best guy for that
and the fit-factor, and he's organized. He's got a game plan
and that's what I like about him."

WHY WAS THAT DECISION MADE TO HAVE SHANE WILSON BE YOUR CREW CHIEF AND
NOT GIL MARTIN?
"It's for the betterment of our organization. Bringing a
fourth team in and moving me over to the No. 33 car in the long haul,
that's going to be better for me. It's going to bring more
income in, more resources. When we go test, it's another car I can
pull information from. In the long haul looking forward it's going
to be a lot better."

HAVE YOU WORKED WITH SHANE WILSON BEFORE?
"A few times. I ran a Nationwide race with him I think at
California and obviously through Nationwide testing and things like that
I've worked with him quite a bit. Shane's a good guy. Like I
said he's organized. He's got a game plan. Of all the crew
chiefs we talked to and everything else, he's the one that made the
most sense and had the best game plan and the one I felt like could do me
the best job.

I sat down and met with several crew chiefs and it made the best sense, I
thought, for our organization and myself to use some guy that we already
had. Shane is definitely qualified. He's won championships with
Harvick over on the Nationwide side and I feel like he'll do me a
good job."

IS IT MIXED EMOTIONS THOUGH WITH GIL MARTIN AND THIS TEAM BEING IN THE
CHASE TWO YEARS IN A ROW? IS IT SCARY AND DOES IT MAKE YOU NERVOUS?
"Absolutely. It's hard. We've had a lot of success
together and we've had a lot of fun. I love Gil. He's my kind
of people. He's a lot of fun to be around. We've had a lot of
fun together. But he won't be too far away and we'll be able
to lean on each other if needed. We'll still have a
relationship."

IF JIMMIE JOHNSON SHOWED UP AT YOUR DOOR ON HALLOWEEN NEXT FRIDAY, WHAT
DO YOU THINK HE'D BE DRESSED LIKE?
"There is no way in hell Jimmie Johnson would be at my door at
Halloween (laughs). He's counting his money (laughter)."

WHO IS THE BEST ACTIVE DRIVER THAT HAS NEVER WON A CUP CHAMPIONSHIP?
"Ah, man. Jeff Burton, my teammate. I think he's poised to
win a championship. I think he's definitely qualified to win
championships. He's won a lot of races. I think he's a good
guy for that."

THIS YEAR, DO YOU THINK YOU'VE LIVED UP TO THE EXPECTED PERFORMANCE
WITH GIL MARTIN?
"Yeah, it's not anything performance related as to why
we're split up. It's strictly moving forward and trying to
better our organization. Richard came to us and said this is what
we're going to do, and we've got to make the best of out of
that situation. We've all got to stick together. If you look at the
teams we're getting beat by, it's all four-car teams. We knew
that we had to step up and bring that much more income. That's
going to bring more people and more engineers and more R&D. More, more,
more for me, you know? It's just as well for Kevin (Harvick) and
Jeff (Burton). So at the end of the day, that's going to be better
for us."

A LOT OF FANS THINK THE NO. 07 IS JUST GOING TO SWITCH OVER, PUT NEW
UNIFORMS ON, AND TAKE THE POINTS OF THE '07, BUT YOU GUYS ARE
STARTING ON A CLEAN SHEET OF PAPER
"Yeah, it is what it is. You've got to make the best out of
it and we will. We're going to make the Chase and hopefully we can
get all four of us in it."

SO THE FIRST PART OF THE YEAR IS GOING TO BE TOUGH?
"The first part of the year is going to be the proving grounds
(laughs)."